CHELMSFORD & CENTRAL ESSEX GROUP NEWS Winter 2014/15 The RSPB is a registered charity in England & Wales 207076, in Scotland SC037654 A Message From Viv Connett JANUARY 2015 BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH Viv, who is acting as our group point-of- We have just had the weekend of the contact with RSPB while we don’t have an RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, and I hope official Chair of the Group, has been very you remembered to submit your results (if busy birding (when she isn’t at work) so she you haven’t yet done so, the deadline is 13 hasn’t written a long message for us this February, so there’s still time). This survey time. She wishes you all a happy and bird- creates a UK-wide snapshot of our garden filled new year, reminds us of the great walks wildlife, and the information it provides is and talks lined up for the year, and reiterates essential in enabling the RSPB to monitor her regular plea for someone to step up and trends and understand how birds and other assume the role of Group Leader. wildlife are faring. The RSPB prides itself on basing its work on hard evidence rather than speculation so you can see how important it LOCAL GROUP AGM is that as many people as possible participate. As I write, over five million birds Our Local Group AGM will take place at have already been counted! 7.30pm on Thursday 23 April 2015, immediately prior to the talk which will be at We did quite well in our garden this year; we 8.00pm as normal. have been seeing a good variety of birds, including one of my favourites, long-tailed tits. Do please come and support us at the AGM We seem to have an increasing population of – without it there would be no committee to house sparrows; these have been declining run the local group, and therefore no walks nationally in the past (63% fewer sparrows in and no talks. These events don’t just happen our gardens over the 36 years Big Garden on their own! Even better, if you would like to Birdwatch has been running) so it is great to join the committee, we would welcome you hear a chorus of them in our buddleia bush with open arms (especially if you think you cheeping at the tops of their voices. There can take on the role of Group Leader – see are 84% fewer starlings in that same time Viv’s plea above). The work is not onerous and we certainly don’t see nearly as many in and the more people we can share it around, our garden as we used to in the past. the less there is for each individual to do. We have committee meetings three or four times Louise Fuller a year and they are informal and sociable, although of course we make sure we get through the necessary business efficiently. Contact details for the current committee members are at the end of this newsletter, before the diary dates, so do feel free to contact one of us if you would like to talk about joining the committee. Even if you don’t think you are a committee- type person, come to the AGM anyway – we won’t force you to join the committee but it is important that local group members hear the LONG-TAILED TIT Annual Reports, and get the opportunity to ask questions and express their views. 1 OUR LOCAL GROUP WALKS In December, on the last weekend before Christmas, we escaped the hurly-burly and In November last year we ventured to headed off to the Stour Valley. This is right at Bedfords Park at Havering-atte-Bower; this is the opposite end of Essex from our just outside the administrative county of November trip to Bedfords Park! It was a Essex although its postal address is still grey and windy day but seven of us set off to Essex. walk round this riverside reserve. The woods It was a damp and misty morning as we set were very quiet but we got down to the off to explore this Essex Wildlife Trust viewpoint overlooking the river and were reserve which was a new site for the group. treated to lots of pintails and red-breasted We started off by admiring the managed herd mergansers. Good numbers of goldeneyes of red deer which are resident here and were were also present and it was good to see treated to a few bellows from the alpha stag! these winter ducks, which are very attractive. A ring-necked parakeet called from the trees After finding our way back to the car park, but didn’t show itself. the woods still being very quiet, we drove the We started off doing the shorter walk, partly short distance to Wall Lane where we looked to avoid the dog walkers and partly due to the for the long-staying first winter surf scoter. muddy conditions. It was very quiet although However it was not to be seen – recently it we managed to find a tit flock which also had been spending more time on the Suffolk contained a treecreeper. Most of us side – so we contented ourselves with managed to get a glimpse of it even though it dunlins and ringed plovers. We saw 22 was elusive. We continued to the pond which species. apparently is good for mandarin ducks in the winter but none were there, probably due to the mild conditions. We continued on and decided to visit the lake at the bottom end of the reserve. Only coots and tufted ducks were visible until one of the group spotted something brown disappearing into one of the bushes – we waited patiently and were treated to a great sparrowhawk flypast! Although we didn’t see many birds (17 seen, PINTAIL (DRAKE) two heard), probably due to the mild winter and murky conditions, we had a good walk Having visited Wallasea Island in January and will try this reserve again at a different 2014, we made another visit in January 2015 time of year. to see what a difference a year makes. It was damp and cloudy in the morning but the weather had improved as seven of us set off to see what had changed since last year. As there had been a good number of raptors present over the last few days there were several other birders present, and one of these alerted us to a short-eared owl flying over the reptile area. We all had excellent views as it quartered the area and there was also another bird sitting on a post. It was very encouraging to see large numbers of corn buntings in the field immediately in front of us. We started off along the sea wall and immediately found plenty of waders on the estuary and then large numbers of wildfowl on the new lagoons. These have been created using the spoil from the London Crossrail project, which is being transported to the reserve via barge. When we returned to the car park we found SPARROWHAWK that a further two short-eared owls had been 2 seen, and the rough-legged buzzard which THE RSPB AND THE BARN OWL had been hanging round the reserve for a few A friend of mine has loaned me a wonderful weeks had been spotted in the distance. As “Log Book” of 504 pages which had been we were bemoaning the fact that we had used by a relative of hers as a Bird Watching missed it the shout went up that it had Notebook. The first dated entry is for the returned. We all had good views through winter of 1871! There will be a description of telescopes as it sat on a distant post then this interesting notebook in another article for, flew around being mobbed by crows. hidden in its depths, I came across a fascinating leaflet which is also very interesting. This is entitled:- BIRD NOTES & NEWS Issued Quarterly by the Royal Society For the Protection of Birds Vol.XV Autumn 1933 No.7 THE BARN OWL IN ENGLAND Results of the census ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD By G. B. Blaker This reserve is proving to be a very good There are two reasons why this interests me. area for raptors in the winter and is highly The first is because, despite being involved in recommended for anyone wanting to see a the RSPB for 50 years, I know very little of its decent selection. We saw 36 species of activities prior to, say, 1960. Secondly, birds. because we are in the middle of the Essex Viv Connett Barn Owl Conservation Project of the Essex Wildlife Trust, barn owls are of particular interest. 2014 FUN QUIZ We all know that the Society for the Last year's quiz worked reasonably well, Protection of Birds was created in 1889 by a although the topic, "Name the Rhymes", group of ladies in Birmingham who were didn't seem as attractive as the bird theme of fighting a battle against the tremendous use 2013. The local group made a profit of of feathers by women in fashion, which was £136.75; somewhat lower than last year's decimating birds from all over the world. It £200+ but still very worth while. was so successful that it was granted the The prize of £25 went to Catherine Goodwin Royal Charter in 1904. It grew slowly to of Chelmsford, who was very happy to hear change from a female-led charity to include that she'd won.